By Adegboyega Remmy Adeleye
“The labour of our heroes past, shall never be in vain “
From the suburbs of Ijebu Ode to the hilltop of the world, lies a phenomenon who resisted all struggles to become a global icon. It is significant to capture all the gains for Nigeria in Tobi Amusan’s victory at the World Athletics Championship.
Apart from the fact that this feat marks the nation’s first-ever gold medal; it was also the first time that the sonorous anthem of the world’s most populous black nation would be played over the public address system during medal presentation to winners at the global stage of athletics tournament.
Tears of joy rolled out from Amusan’s eyes as the anthem was played. For her, it was a moment of joy and proof that her years of hard work, dedication and consistency didn’t go in vain . As the famous line: “The labour of our heroes past, shall never be in vain” was sung, it dawned on her that she is already a hero and her labour has paid off over her struggles, pains, disappointments, setbacks and heartbreaks over the years. Tobi’s story is inspiring, I couldn’t help but break down in tears while watching, my ‘champion’ cry.
Denied at home, made same home proud
The world record holder was distraught after her “zero” moment last year at the National Olympics trials for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She wept profusely having missed a chance to put on a show for the home fans as well as break the record of her idol, Glory Alozie whom she met a day before the race.
Amusan thought she had broken the 100m hurdles African record during the Olympics trials at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, after easily winning her event, but was dazed after discovering that the electronic timer had malfunctioned and failed to display the time at the end of the race.
Her hand timer recorded 12.3secs, and that should have been enough to crash Gloria Alozie’s African record of 12.44secs set in 1998, but she was hard done by.
“About 80 meters into the race, as I approached the home stretch, from the corner of my eye, I couldn’t help but notice that the display clock stayed at zero the whole time. “That’s strange”, I thought. I had never experienced that before. That’s a mirage, right? I mean I wouldn’t put it past Nigeria. But the timer not working, happening during one of the biggest races of my career…Hell no! So it was quite astonishing seeing all that effort come down to an important moment of just simply timing the final, or so it seemed.” Tobi wrote in her emotional piece on athlst.com
The hurdler revealed in an interview with renowned journalist, Teja Onojaife on “Headliner” that her phenomenal coach, Lacena Golding-Clarke, a three-time Olympian from Jamacia and the 2002 Commonwealth Games 100m hurdles champion told her to prove herself, saying : “If they don’t record it at home, they’ll record it elsewhere”.
Inspired by her coach to forge ahead, she got over the disappointment of being denied an African record at home and raced on the global stage to beat her Personal Best, The African Record, and took it a notch higher with the World Record and World Championship Gold medal.
Tobi eventually broke that record at another track meet as her coach affirmed after that disappointment. She first broke Alozie’s AR at the final leg of the Wanda Diamond League in Zurich last year, which she won in 12.42s, and extended it when she ran an incredible 12.40 seconds in her opening performance at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA to set a new African record and Nigeria’s fastest time in the history of the competition. The phenomenal athlete had her eyes fixated on higher goals and she became the first Nigerian athlete to ever set a World Record in any event.
Tobi Amusan became the first Nigerian ever to win gold at the World Athletics Championships after racing to a stunning world record time of 12.06s. It was the second time Amusan would break the record on the night, improving on her 12.12s in the semi-final; previously set by America’s Kendra Harrison’s at 12.20s.
Tagged almost but became the most precious
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas Edison
Though African and Commonwealth champion, breaking several records on the way, Tobi faced a lot of disappointments at the big events (Olympics and World Championships).
She started her career in an impressive fashion, winning a silver medal at the 2013 African Youth Championships in Warri. She also claimed gold in the 100 metres hurdles at the 2015 African Junior Athletics Championships in Addis Ababa.
In 2015, while making her All-Africa Games debut as an 18-year-old, she won the gold medal in the 100 metres hurdles. Tobi also won collegiate championships. In 2016, as a freshman at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), Amusan became the second athlete for the university to be named C-USA Female Track Athlete of the Year since UTEP joined C-USA.
She won 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships in a personal record time of 12.57s
The amazing hurdler came to prominence outside Africa at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, when she breezed past 2015 world champion, Danielle Williams to shockingly claim the gold. She also won a bronze medal in the 4X100m relay with her teammates, Joy Udo-Gabriel, Blessing Okagbare and Rosemary Chukwuma.
Later in 2018, she won her first African Championships title in her specialist event at the Asaba African Championships. She also claimed a gold medal in the 4 x 100 m relay at the championships.
As a phenomenal athlete whose career started like a house on fire, she aimed higher and worked hard to be a world champion. Unfortunately, it wasn’t forthcoming as she was tagged the ‘almost girl’.
“I was the ‘almost girl’…I got fourth, fourth, fourth. Now I finally did it.” – Tobi said after her ground-breaking win at the 2022 World Championship.
Amusan’s “almost” journey was frustrating but she never gave up
At the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, she ran a personal best of 12.48s during the 100 metre hurdles qualifying rounds. In the semi-finals the following day, she equalled this personal best before placing 4th a few hours later in the final with 12.49s.
At her previous appearances at the World Championships 2017 and 2019, she finished 14th and fourth respectively.
At last year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, she missed out on a podium finish with a time of 12.60s after coming fourth in the final ,despite some eye-catching performances in the heats to the final. At the previous games in Rio, Brazil she ended up in 14th position, after reaching the semi-finals.
“2019 was tough because I remember running the fastest time in the qualification rounds, around the same time in the semi-finals and the same time in the final,” she said.
“I ran so fast but wasn’t fast enough to get a medal. I was broken, I was devastated. That was one of the most horrible experiences.
“I moved on, and then came the Tokyo Olympics. Things just crumbled a month before when I strained my hamstring at practice.”
With Persistence, Consistency, Hard-work & Resilience, Tobi kept pushing for glory.
On the 9th of September, 2021, at the final leg of the Wanda Diamond League in Zurich, she won in 12.42s as she pushed aside the disappointment of missing out of a podium finish by the narrowest of margins at the Tokyo Olympics to become the first ever Nigerian and first African hurdler to win the Diamond League trophy. She also broke her ever-yearning Glory Alozie’s AR of 12.44s as she won in 12.42s.
Amusan opened her 2022 season by winning the 2022 Diamond League event in Paris, where she set an African record by 0.01s with a time of 12.41s.
She won gold in the 100m hurdles at the 2022 African Championships in Mauritius, defending her title successfully with a time of 12.57s ( wind-aided). She also competed in the women’s 4×100m and won gold. Tobi got into her stride ahead of the World Championships as she emerged as the winner in the 100m hurdles event at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold in Finland.
Amusan ran a season-best time of 12.57s to see off Jamaica’s Britany Anderson (12.59s) on the line.The win in Finland set her on the right track for the historic feat she achieved in Oregon.
From ‘almost’ to ‘most-precious’, the 25-year-old ran a time of 12.12 seconds – shaving almost a tenth of a second off the previous world record – in the semi-finals of the World Championships in Oregon before going on to win gold in the final.
The accidental hurdler who scaled through life hurdles
The students of Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School, Ijebu Ode, Ogun state, Nigeria sang to celebrate their alumnus:
“Our Alma Mata she will be, long after we depart.
As dear to us as life itself, from her we’ll never part”
It was indeed a proud moment for Tobi Amusan as her win would inspire young girls to also attain greater feats. It wasn’t an easy journey for the world champion, The hurdler had to scale through a lot of life “hurdles” before climbing to the apex. Born into a family of strict disciplinarians. Both parents were teachers who never wanted their young female child to go astray.
Tobi’s father wanted her to focus on education and that the first challenge she had in her early career.
“My dad got really mad one time when he found out [I was running]. He burned all my training gear and told my mum that’s the last time he wanted to see me in a stadium.” Tobi said in an interview with BBC Sport Africa.
She found an unlikely ally in her mum who kept encouraging her and covered up even if it meant driving all the way to bring her training equipment to the stadium.
“My mum would tell my dad I was going to church while I sneaked to practice or tell him I was going to a school debate while I went to an out-of-state competition. That’s where it all started.”
Her father deserves credits for the wonderful academic background and her mother deserves plaudits for supporting the phenomenal sporting career.
It’s surprising that today’s world champion became an hurdler by accident. She started as a football player, later as a track and field athlete and when she was replaced as a member of Nigeria’s 4×100 relay squad for the 2014 African Youth Games in Botswana, it made her frustrated that she considered quitting. Some coaches advised her to try the hurdles, she did and won silver at the same tournament.
Tobi never had it easy training as a hurdler in the early years of her career as she would put cones and tires on the track to jump over because there were no hurdles in her town.
In 2016, Amusan got a scholarship to study at the University of Texas, El Paso, United States and she has not looked back since then; growing in leaps and bounds.
Even fellow athlete, Danielle Williams saluted Tobi Amusan after the victory. You could feel how elated she was for her friend. Amusan was prophetic as she got the World Record she wished for.
Legendary athlete, Usian Bolt who is regarded by sport enthusiasts as the king of athletics also congratulated Tobi for her phenomenal achievement.
Tobi Amusan has now attained the legendary feat achieved by Chioma Ajunwa, Mary Onyali, Glory Alozie, Falilat Ogunkoya, Blessing Okagbare, as well as a plethora of other Nigerian athletes. She surely deserves a national honour for making Nigeria proud.
Tobi’s win is a great inspiration for other Nigerian athletes. She has set the pace by winning the first-ever world championship gold medal for her nation.
Ese Brume finished on the podium in the long jump with a leap of 7.02m to claim silver medal, Ruth Usoro also had a good show in the long-jump final, made a record-breaking appearance as she became the first Nigerian, man or woman to compete in both the triple jump and long jump events at the same edition of the championships. The relay squad of Joy Udo-Gabriel, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma and Grace Nwokocha ran a spectacular race to set a new African and Nigerian Record of 42.22s to finish 4th.
Enoch Adegoke, Raymond Ekevwo, Seye Ogunlewe, Usheoritse Itsekiri, Godson Brume, Favour Ashe, and Udodi Onwuzurike are some of the big names currently doing great things in Men Athletics.
Tobi Amusan has also contributed to grassroot sports development. In February 2022, She announced a sports development programme on her Instagram page:
I’m starting my GRASS-ROOT SPORTS DEVELOPMENT / OPEN EVENTS in my county (Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State). Here’s a recap of how it all began for me (sneaking from school to the stadium) to where God has brought me now.
💫
I’ve teamed up with one of my mentors to execute this significant development, which will occur annually beginning in 2022.
The first of many to come, Series One of IJEBU to the WORLD begins on February 24, 2022.
Tobi Amusan’s story is inspiring, she leaves an unforgettable legacy. The Nigerian, African, Commonwealth, and World Champion is ready to become an Olympic Champion as she looks forward to Paris 2024 Olympics and other future athletics event.
“My mum was in full support of my athletics career but dad wanted me to focus on school. He limited my time at the stadium, but I used to sneak to the track thanks to mum telling dad I’d gone to church!”
Quirky start, bright future for Tobi Amusan
She wouldn’t have achieved all these incredible feats without hardwork, persistence, dedication and consistency.
Unknown now , but 🔜 I will be UNFORGETTABLE … I will Persist untill I SUCCEED ….🌎🌟📌
Tobi Amusan faced a lot of challenges but she was resilient and never gave up.
Today, Everyone all around the world congratulates Tobi Amusan for the historic & ground-breaking feat.
Just as her name literally depicts, ‘Oluwatobiloba Ayomide Amusan’s joy has finally come because God is truly the great king.
“Then this time my 100% is not only a gold medal but a world record. Trusting myself just made everything easier. I’m thankful to the man above for keeping me healthy. When God says it’s your time, it’s your time.” Tobi Amusan
Disclaimer
Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.